Hobo Jungle

[2railjon]

LOL Healey!! Ain’t that the truth!! I always get a kick out of ads stating the the product is “military grade”. What most people don’t realize who have never been in the military is that the equipment you’re using was made by the lowest bidder!

[rogruth]

LOL Healey!! Ain’t that the truth!! I always get a kick out of ads stating the the product is “military grade”. What most people don’t realize who have never been in the military is that the equipment you’re using was made by the lowest bidder!

Same is true of school buildings and school equipment of every sort.

[HONDO74]

LOL Healey!! Ain’t that the truth!! I always get a kick out of ads stating the the product is “military grade”. What most people don’t realize who have never been in the military is that the equipment you’re using was made by the lowest bidder!

Same is true of school buildings and school equipment of every sort.

Does that hold true for musical instruments ? is that why school bands sound like crap.

[rogruth]

LOL Healey!! Ain’t that the truth!! I always get a kick out of ads stating the the product is “military grade”. What most people don’t realize who have never been in the military is that the equipment you’re using was made by the lowest bidder!

Same is true of school buildings and school equipment of every sort.

Does that hold true for musical instruments ? is that why school bands sound like crap.

I'm going to give this a serious answer.
Yes if the school administration wants it to be that way. Some places the admin will buy top line instruments if they can be shown the reasons to do so.
Most states school equipment must be put out for the lowest bid but the buyer can specify the instrument brand and model but not where to buy it.
The director of the band controls how it sounds and just as with a coach if the admin wants a strong program they find the best coach they can find for the program. Size of bands are affected by many factors. Without getting into the events that occurred in a school system before I went there the admin
decided that the high school band would be kept @ 35 members in size. The band played and marched well but was out sized by every other band that performed at halftime the smallest of which was @ 75. The director could not change that. Band directors in some schools are recruited just like coaches and offered higher pay to produce a better band. I always taught in small schools in relatively poor areas and had a staff of one while many other bands had a staff of 2 -6.
This is probably more than you wanted to know and I did see the wink but since I did spend more than half my life teaching I do try to answer questions
about this. The days of the old "Music Man" are gone.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

LOL Healey!! Ain’t that the truth!! I always get a kick out of ads stating the the product is “military grade”. What most people don’t realize who have never been in the military is that the equipment you’re using was made by the lowest bidder!

Same is true of school buildings and school equipment of every sort.

Does that hold true for musical instruments ? is that why school bands sound like crap.

What Roger stated. And, when I was in high school almost every band members bought and owned their own instruments independently of the school. There were very few school owned instruments.

If they sounded like crap, it was the person playing and then got a poor grade that actually counted towards their GPA and graduation.

[webenda]

Mad Jack's Dog

It was a short and squatty cabin
Thick dirt roof and round corral
From the distance, it looked interesting,
I stopped to rest my horse a spell.

From around behind this cabin
This wild-eyed old-timer came
Said his name was Mad Jack Hanks,
I shook his hand, told him my name.

Said he was up there trapping beaver,
And that he had the lonesome blues,
Soon, he offered bed and breakfast,
If I would share the latest news.

I agreed to his proposal
He seemed glad to have me stay,
He was rustling up some tableware,
While I put my horse away.

He had some supper going,
I hauled in a load of wood.
I shared the latest current events,
-and things were going good...

'Till I reached down to pet his damned old dog,
I truly meant no harm,
But before you know it, that old wolf had bit me on the arm.

"Mad Jack," I said, "why does your dog just glare at me with hate?"

"Oh, it's nothin', he's just cranky cause—
You're eatin off his plate.

© 1991, Rod McQueary, All rights reserved

[E7]

I LIKE IT!

Rich

[MurphOnMillerAve]

I liked it, too, because it shows us that things are not always as we have perceived them. Life is complicated. And sometimes, we get bitten, no matter our level of trust or expectation. (The poem said it better than I just did.)

[healey36]

My daughter's 2017 effort:



A favorite:

Haunted Houses
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

All houses wherein men have lived and died
Are haunted houses. Through the open doors
The harmless phantoms on their errands glide,
With feet that make no sound upon the floors.

We meet them at the door-way, on the stair,
Along the passages they come and go,
Impalpable impressions on the air,
A sense of something moving to and fro.

There are more guests at table than the hosts
Invited; the illuminated hall
Is thronged with quiet, inoffensive ghosts,
As silent as the pictures on the wall.

The stranger at my fireside cannot see
The forms I see, nor hear the sounds I hear;
He but perceives what is; while unto me
All that has been is visible and clear.

We have no title-deeds to house or lands;
Owners and occupants of earlier dates
From graves forgotten stretch their dusty hands,
And hold in mortmain still their old estates.

The spirit-world around this world of sense
Floats like an atmosphere, and everywhere
Wafts through these earthly mists and vapours dense
A vital breath of more ethereal air.

Our little lives are kept in equipoise
By opposite attractions and desires;
The struggle of the instinct that enjoys,
And the more noble instinct that aspires.

These perturbations, this perpetual jar
Of earthly wants and aspirations high,
Come from the influence of an unseen star
An undiscovered planet in our sky.

And as the moon from some dark gate of cloud
Throws o’er the sea a floating bridge of light,
Across whose trembling planks our fancies crowd
Into the realm of mystery and night,—

So from the world of spirits there descends
A bridge of light, connecting it with this,
O’er whose unsteady floor, that sways and bends,
Wander our thoughts above the dark abyss.

Rock on fellas...have a good Halloween!

Healey

[E7]

Healey,

Daughter has once again knocked it out of the park!

Rich

[webenda]

Time for another flower?

Latin binomial: Caesalpinia pulcerrima
Common name: Red Bird of Paradise
Location: Tucson, AZ, my front yard
Camera: Panasonic DMC-SZ3
Date: August 12, 2017
Time: 3:57 PM
Shutter: 1/1600 sec
F number: f/9.0
ISO: 800
Focal length: 4.5 mm (35 mm equivalent: 25 mm)

[rogruth]

Wayne,
That is the perfect answer to those that think the southwest is all cactus and sand.
In the early 1990s my wife and I visited our daughter twice for @ three weeks each time in Arizona.
We visited many of the usual attractions, the Grand Canyon of course. I found southern Arizona to
be much more interesting than northern Arizona. Your flower is an example of why. There is so
much in southern Arizona that is unexpected many are surprised.
When going to an area that I have not visited in the past I try to study some about it so it can be
enjoyed a little more.

Great photo as usual.
Thank you.
More please.

[webenda]

More please.

One more flower.

Riding a bicycle in the Sonoran Desert can be a delight if you are interested in desert flowers.


No, that is not me. She rode past me as I was taking pictues of the flowers.

This flower was next to where I parked the truck. I placed a key next to it for size reference. I have not been able to identify the flower species.


I noticed it as I was inflating the bicycle tires to a suitable pressure for the trail conditions; 15 psi for sand, 35 psi for multiple conditions, 45 psi for high speed trails like in the photo above and 55 psi for trails with big rocks to negotiate (called a "technical trail" in mountain bike lingo.) Higher pressure makes the tires more resistant to snake bite punctures. It is hard to steer when riding through large rocks and sometimes you cannot avoid the snakes.

Of course, rocks are not the only place where you find snakes but if you are not riding a rock trail it is easier to steer around the snakes.

Reference: https://www.sheldonbrown.com/brandt/snakebites.html

[Tramp]

Wonderful poems and great photo, Wayne. Nice to see Jon back.

And I love the jack'o'lantern. No idea how to spell that.

[up148]

When I saw your 1st photo of the bike rider, I wondered about snakes. Always been fascinated by them and played with them when a child, but one striking at me as I drive by doesn't sound very pleasant. It's not the ones in the road that are so bad, but the ones next to the road that can strike and bite as you pass buy. Great way to ruin your day.

BH